Ladies Retreat

If you want to know all about the devotions, classes and messages go to Sis. Horne's blog. She has a remarkable memory. :)

I stayed up late on Thursday night cooking for Ladies Retreat. Okay, all of you who just fell over in shock...this was the first retreat in Alabama that I attended where I didn't have to plan a class or TAP group.

Sis. Horne circumvented my over-planning this year by springing a Prayer Group on me at the very last possible second. Which was way better and the ladies enjoyed it much more. However, my usual nightmare came true..there were plenty of "warm fuzzies" and crying, but get this....I was the ony one crying!!! haahahahahahahaha! God has such a good sense of humor. Which is probaby why I always resist TAP groups...I know I'm the teary one and I try to avoid it!! However, Sis. Betty's mom attended her first Ladies Retreat ever and just seeing Betty with her mother just made me cry like a baby. (her mom needs to be saved.)

Okay, back to the cooking. I made Chocolate Fudge with walnuts (You can't call this cooking. It was more "assembling" by microwave since it was simply a tub of "Triple Chocolate Chip" icing (probably Duncan Hines) and a bag of Nestle Milk Chocolate/Peanut Butter swirled chips melted for 10+ seconds in the microwave and stirred together with walnuts and more walnuts sprinkled on top. I found those flavors at Target. It was mostly all gone, so somebody liked it. Then I made "Chewy Peanut Brittle Cookies" which got several requests for the recipe.

CHEWY PEANUT BRITTLE COOKIES

1 cup white Karo syrup
1 cup Brown Sugar
½ cup White Sugar
1 ½ cup peanut butter (plain or crunchy) (mine was crunchy)
5 cups Special K Cereal (mine had chocolate bits in it)
optional: ½ c. Salted Peanuts

Boil sugars & syrup until reaches soft ball stage. (Can also cook in microwave) Remove from heat. Add peanut butter, cereal and peanuts if desired. Mix well, drop by spoonfuls onto tin foil or wax paper. Cool.

Then I made Banana Nut Bread with walnuts in mini-muffin pans. I wanted something "not chocolate" and could be eaten at breakfast too. However, my daughter and son-in-law and husband barely let me out of the house with the Banana Nut Muffins. I had to make promises. The smell of the Banana Nut bread cooking and eating hot muffins made Mike all kissy-kissy so I suppose I need to be making some more of those! Ha!

I had to work the next day and was regretting that I didn't take the day off, since I had a couple of errands to run. I had absolutely NOTHING to do at work and it made the day seem very long and irritating. I got off at 3:00 and ran to pick up the towels I forgot and a new pair of shoes I needed from Kohls. I decided to skip the haircut so I could get off Hwy 280 before the traffic got too bad. I got off 280 and ate at a DQ further down the road. I-20 is all tore up due to road construction and I missed the exit because the exit signs were down, and had to call Mike, who had to call Bro. Steve, who had to talk to Sis. Horne. I was about 3 exits too far, and made my way back.

Sometimes, the first night of Retreat is kind of laid back and the messages are "warm-up - feel goods". Ha! Not in this retreat! We had the All Star line up of Sis. Allene Cox, Sis. Amy Anders and then Sis. Horne and Sis. Smith the next day. They all shot from both hips. Ha! I'm sure you all have heard my famous "dirt" quote by now, so I'm sure I don't have to repeat here. :-)

Friday night I stayed in the "sleepers" (snorers) cabin...you notice I didnt' say "sleep" in the snorers cabin. The next morning after my FREEZING COLD SHOWER(must have been a test to see who is truly sanctified ;-)...I wasn't feeling particularly warm and fuzzy ;-) when another sister suddenly said, "I have had the best sleep ever." We looked at her in shock and said, "At Ladies Retreat???" and then she said, "I haven't slept a full night's sleep in 17 years." She explained why and we all realized that God had worked a miracle for her at her first Ladies Retreat. I put a smile on my face and was thankful that I have had many years of sleep filled nights and one night of listening to "snorers" wasn't all that bad. :) (I didn't sleep any Saturday night either. Ha!) (However, I did offer my $10 Tuiton refund back if it would buy me some hot water. LOL!)

Saturday, the All Star line up was in full force with more devotions, classes, fun, (brunch worked out real good BTW) and fellowship. During personal devotion time, I didn't see any picnic tables, so I just sat out in my truck with the windows rolled down. I had a good breeze and a good view of the fall leaves. After devotions were over and I heard ladies returning to the main hall, I laid my seat back to rest a little while. An hour later, I woke up realizing that I had fallen asleep. I had been dreaming that I was inside talking to everyone (I could hear their voices outside), while I was actually sound asleep in the truck! So I got my sleep after all.

My husband looking at the Fun Time pictures on FB kept asking me, "Tammy, What were ya'll doing??" When I saw what he was looking at, I told him, "What? They don't make ya'll play weird caterpillar hopping games at Men's Retreat???" LOL!

Saturday night we played BananaGrams (right up my nerd alley - I love Scrabble but get impatient waiting on others to form words. :) and the famous "act out the card and guess it before the machine swallows it" game. (don't remember the name) I can act it out, but wasn't that great at grabbing the card, but it was my first time to ever play it and I was half asleep. I'll have to get more practice. :) Both nights we all ate more sweets and junk food than we should have!

Sunday morning, thankfully we had WARM SHOWERS! Sis. Amy preached the third and last of her excellent sermons and we all hugged each other goodbye. I drove straight home, hopped in a steaming hot bath and went straight to bed. I had a good long nap and then got dressed to go to church. I knew we would have to do the annual Retreater's Testimony service, but since only 3 of us attended, it was short and sweet. :) Which was right up Bro. Hopkin's alley because since he didn't get to preach that morning (Bro. Grimes was CPMA Boosting/preaching that morning) he was good and ready to preach! Then, right about the time the weary eyed Lady Retreaters were ready to leave (the other two didn't get naps) a "men's meeting" was called. (which is a step up from a conference). Church ended at 7:30 and didn't leave until 9:00. ARRGGH! We briefly considered staying to finish out the junk food with the Hornes and Riddlespurges, but Mike needed to go to the grocery store, so we slipped out and got home about 10:00. I went to work Monday morning while the other ladies slept in (hence my Sunday nap).